ZWIFT, the online fitness and entertainment platform, will be kicking off this year’s 724-mile Amgen Tour of California by hosting a ride on the ZWIFT platform with race Ambassador Jens Voigt. In his capacity as the Amgen Tour of California Ambassador, Voigt, a former pro cyclist and world record holder, will be in Sacramento, California for the start of the 8- stage, 10th running of the event. The ride with ‘Jensy’ is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 7th at 10:00AM PST. Voigt, who will make a trip to ZWIFT island for about an hour, will provide documentary and reflections on his career achievements, including his nine appearances in the Amgen Tour of California. Brad Sohner, the “Voice of the Amgen Tour of California”, will help to keep things lively and users will be encouraged to throw questions to Jens using Twitter or ZWIFT’s in-game text messaging feature.
Anyone can ride with Jens simply by logging into ZWIFT at 10 a.m. PST on May 7.
“Truth be told, we bring people like Jens together with friends, fans and all types of cyclists every single day! The beginning of a race as significant as the Amgen Tour of California is just a great chance to make sure everyone knows that.” said ZWIFT Co-Founder and CEO Eric Min. “The magic of ZWIFT is that we allow people to find motivation and inspiration from our global community. All evidence from our early adopters is that they ride more often and with greater intensity thanks to ZWIFT. That kind of feedback tells us that we better make room on ZWIFT island for a lot of riders!”
“I may have decided to retire, but I’m definitely not finished riding,” said the 43 year-old Voigt, a veteran of 17 years as a professional racer. “I’ve probably ridden a million miles in my life and, to be honest, I don’t know how to stop! I look at this period of my career as a chance to give back to the fans and riding on ZWIFT is the perfect way to do that. On ZWIFT I can ride with anyone from anywhere in the world. It really is magic.”
Available to users of PC and Mac platforms, ZWIFT uses its Zengine–a massive, multiplayer video game platform–to deliver a fun, social and entertaining indoor cycling experience. This year ZWIFT will focus on growing its community of users by adding new riding environments, hosting mass start events and partnering with noteworthy brands in the cycling industry. ZWIFT is enhanced by IOS and Android companion apps and rides can easily be uploaded to fitness tracking sites such as Strava.
